Boat names

[sneuman]

My father took this very seriously and was slightly obsessive that our boat's name be original. Of course it wasn't, even in 1970, but we never saw another "Talisman" on Lake Erie.

With the Internet, we can easily check for originality with a simple Google search - and of course, nearly everything has been used, often MANY times.

My question is: how important is it for you to have an original name? does it bum you out to see another boat in your home waters with the same name?

I carry around a short list in my head (for the next boat), but sadly none are completely original, with the possible exception of one which would be Thai language.

[CSY Man]

Bad luck to change the name of a boat....

Bought my first boat way back, researched the vessel and found the original name. (Way before the internet)

Changed it back.

The name on the stern when I bought the poor yawl was:
"Dorothy L. Fitzgerald"

(Try to say that 3 times on the radio)

Some guy tried to please his wife when he bought it..I guess.

We changed the name back to "Katingo".
Same as it was back in 1956 when the thing was custom designed and custom built in Booth Bay, Maine.

Have seem many clever names on boats since then:

"Passing Wind"
"Lucky Sperm"
"Trustfund Baby"
"I won, she Lost"

Etc.

There is some carma and tradition with boat names, why keep changing it to pass a message like when ya buy a new T-shirt?

Show some respect for yer boat and give her a good name..She will thank you in the long run..

[sneuman]

I agree no need to change if she already has a good name, but i have to say of the "clever" names you present, i would think you'd be doing the boat a huge favor by changing them!

[44'cruisingcat]

Since we're building a cat, my wife is thinking of feline names. One we have thought of, (but we're not game to use) is : "Puss puss". Picture the coast guard calling that 3 times......

[sneuman]

there's a racer here in thailand orginally called the "pink pussy" but thai authorities thought it too risque and they refused to register it until the owner changed the name. So, it became "pink pussycat", but very cleverly painted "cat" part in a smaller, harder-to-read font, so the initial effect is the same. The pink bikini logo helps too, as does the thai eye candy she typically sports on the foredeck.

[RichT]

Hey cruisingcat, why not name her after the James Bond 007 movie leading lady, "Pussy Galore"? Or, since it's a cat, why not name it after that famous cat food, "puss & boots"? I'm sure you could come up with many similar examples, but do you really want to explain that to the kids????

RichT.

[dana-tenacity]

Smells Like Fish

[FrankZ]

Originally Posted by sneuman

My question is: how important is it for you to have an original name? does it bum you out to see another boat in your home waters with the same name?

I have yet to see another C:\Slave sailing around the Chesepeake.

[Islandmike]

We once purchased a boat with the name "Folie Bergeres", we did not like the name, loved the boat, but I was to afraid to change the name, to supertious.

[sluissa]

I'll sorta agree, if the name is good, keep it, but some of the boat names I've seen, if I ended up with it I'd have no choice but to change the name.

Originality would be nice, but to be honest, I'd rather have the name mean something to me personally, if I were choosing the name. If it were used a few other times I wouldn't mind. I would try to avoid the top 10 most common names though, I've seen a list somewhere on here before I think.

[Islandmike]

My present boat is named Tivoli, it is a city in Italy, city of fountains, and it was an area that the ancient Romans would go on holiday. It was the name given to her over 30 years ago. Different, but not bad, we are keeping it.

[sv_makai]

Name change a must. Our last boat, a mono, came with the name in latin from the orignal owner.

"Nunc aut numquam" Translation: "Now or never" in latin.

We talked with the sea gods and realized that the name needed to be changed now! We also didn't feel the name was clear over the radio. Say:

Nunc aut numquam...Nunc aut numquam....Nunc aut numquam...
in an emergency. We could hardly say it once much less three time in a panic.

We changed the name in accordance to all of the superstions we could find. Toastes to the sea gods and all and re-christened her "Feng Shui". The name has literal and personal meanings we thought more appropriate. First it is a literal Chinese translation of Wind Water (amazing for a sailboat) and it is mainly known as creating harmony in your surroundings so the good energy will flow. Again sounds like sailing to me.

Feng Shui was a great boat for the 7 years we owned her, we enjoyed her, traveled with her and I believe she was much happy with her new name.

[Pblais]

My question is: how important is it for you to have an original name?

One memorial day were were out on the southern Chesapeake. There were two other boats with the same name "Shadowfax". Radio communications were a mess for us all that weekend. It's pretty hard to come up with an original name that isn't meaningless. Most everything nautical has been done. It is nice if you don't have multiple boats with the same name in an area though.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by sneuman

My question is: how important is it for you to have an original name? does it bum you out to see another boat in your home waters with the same name?

I have not seen any with the same name, but it would not bother me. Actually I don't really like "Perro" (it's Spanish for "Dog" - many of the other Seadogs have names involving Dogs).......I am hesitant to change the name (superstition!), but am toying with the idea that if the new name involves the word Dog (in English or another language) that this would not really be changing the name, more enhancing it

I carry around a short list in my head (for the next boat), but sadly none are completely original, with the possible exception of one which would be Thai language.

Bit of a bugger to spell over the radio though

[Pura Vida]

It seems that a name needs to have two practical features and two meanings. On the practical side it needs to be easy to pronounce and have no other boat in the area named the same. There are three boats in the US documented with my boat's name, one on each coast. As for the meaning it has to be something special to you and something else obvious to every one else. My old girl has had at least four names since she first crossed over from Canada.